Black Hat USA 2015

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Black Hat – built by and for the glob
al InfoSec community – returns to Las Vegas for its 18th year.
This six day event begins with four days of intense Trainings for security
practitioners of all levels (August 1-4) followed by the two-day main eve
nt including over 100 independently selected Briefings\, Business Hall\, A
rsenal\, Pwnie Awards\, and more (August 5-6).

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More specific i
nfo will be posted when available.

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About Us

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Black H
at is the most technical and relevant global information security event se
ries in the world. For more than 16 years\, Black Hat has provided attende
es with the very latest in information security research\, development\, a
nd trends in a strictly vendor-neutral environment. These high-profile glo
bal events and Trainings are driven by the needs of the security community
\, striving to bring together the best minds in the industry. Black Hat in
spires professionals at all career levels\, encouraging growth and collabo
ration among academia\, world-class researchers\, and leaders in the publi
c and private sectors.

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From its inception in 1997\, Black Hat has
grown from a single annual conference in Las Vegas to the most respected i
nformation security event series internationally. Today\, the Black Hat Br
iefings and Trainings are held annually in the United States\, Europe and
Asia\, providing a premier venue for elite security researchers and traine
rs to find their audience.

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What We Do

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Briefings<
/strong>\nThe Black Hat Briefings were created more than 16 years ag
o to provide security professionals a place to learn the very latest in in
formation security risks\, research and trends. Each year\, internationall
y leading security researchers take the stage to share their latest work a
nd exploits in a friendly\, vendor-neutral environment. Vulnerabilities ar
e often exposed that impact everything from popular consumer devices to cr
itical international infrastructure and everything in between. Black Hat s
eeks groundbreaking research to fill both 25 and 50-minute speaking slots
for each annual show.

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Trainings\nThe Black
Hat Trainings offer attendees individual technical courses on topics rangi
ng from the latest in penetration testing to exploiting web applications a
nd even defending and building SCADA systems. Often designed exclusively f
or Black Hat\, these hands-on attack and defense courses are taught by ind
ustry and subject matter experts from all over the world with the goal of
defining and defending tomorrow’s information security landscape.

DEF CON 23
h1>\n

As we’ve mentioned here on EH-Net for years\, this is one of those
events that you must attend at least once in your life… preferably multip
le times. It is often said that DEF CON is what you make it. This is 100%
accurate as there are so many talks\, events\, parties and people that 20
people can go to the same event and not see each other or have the same ex
perience. For a little more on this\, it might help to watch DEF CON 101 f
rom DEF CON 17. It’s a few years old\, but the concept is the same:

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p>\n

The DEF CON Story

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Originally started in 1993\,
it was a meant to be a party for member of “Platinum Net”\, a Fido protoco
l based hacking network out of Canada. As the main U.S. hub I was helping
the Platinum Net organizer (I forget his name) plan a closing party for al
l the member BBS systems and their users. He was going to shut down the ne
twork when his dad took a new job and had to move away. We talking about w
here we might hold it\, when all of a sudden he left early and disappeared
. I was just planning a party for a network that was shut down\, except fo
r my U.S. nodes. I decided what the hell\, I’ll invite the members of all
the other networks my BBS (A Dark Tangent System) system was a part of inc
luding Cyber Crime International (CCI)\, Hit Net\, Tired of Protection (To
P)\, and like 8 others I can’t remember. Why not invite everyone on #hack?
Good idea!

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Where did the name come from?

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The short answer is a combination of places. There as a SummerCon in the s
ummer\, a HoHoCon in the winter\, a PumpCon during Halloween\, etc. I didn
’t want any association with a time of year. If you are a Phreak\, or just
use your phone a lot you’ll notes “DEF” is #3 on the phone. If you are in
to military lingo DEF CON is short for “Defense Condition.” Now being a fa
n of the movie War Games I took note that the main character\, David Light
man\, lived in Seattle\, as I do\, and chose to nuke Las Vegas with W.O.P.
R. when given the chance. Well I knew I was doing a con in Vegas\, so it a
ll just sort of worked out.